06 December 2012

Equestrian Centre moves in beside Pontiac Airpark

By Andrea Cranfield, Editor, The EquityQuyon, November 14, 2012(Reprinted with permission)

Fifty-three horses were moved onto an 85 acre farm at the beginning of September right beside the Pontiac Airpark in Luskville.

Owners of the horse farm, Michel Allen and his wife Claude Blanchette, and owner of the Pontiac Airpark André Durocher hope to work together to provide visitors with a positive experience in Pontiac.

Allen and Blanchette plan to offer their services to patrons of the Pontiac Airpark.

"We’re on Hwy. 148 and the air park is on River Road so the only thing between us
and the air park is an old railway track that is removed and River Road...so we’re just back-to-back with the Pontiac airport," said Allen.

The horse farm called Elevage Fabie, is known for breeding and boarding Canadian Horses.

"We have Canadians and there’s not that many breeders of Canadian horses, I’m
telling you. The Canadian horse is the national horse of Canada, the best kept secret
in Canada, I think. We’ve been in the business of breeding the Canadian horse for about 12 years now," said Allen.

Prior to moving the business to Luskville, Elevage Fabie was based in Aylmer
with Allen renting land for the horses.

"To me it was a better idea to move and buy a place of our own," said Allen.

He thought the move would be a good opportunity to be a part of the air park expansion.

Durocher is pleased that Allen and Blanchette have purchased the land beside the air park so that pilots can go horseback riding while waiting to fly.

"This farm was for sale for a few years and I worked hard to find someone to buy
it to offer the equestrian centre services because it’s going to be good for my
clients," said Durocher. "There are many projects like that in the states where
you can see the airplanes and the horses all together in the same spot."

Besides giving riding lessons, trail rides, hay and sleigh rides, participating in
horse shows and breeding Canadian horses at the new location, Allen said he can transport people to and from the air park.

The first step in expanding the Pontiac Airpark, according to Durocher, was to add the equestrian centre. Next, he hopes there will be more buyers that purchase land next to the air park who will eventually build a golf course, hotel, restaurant and spa.

"It’s going to be a 500 acre project … It’s going to attract tourists. You land on the runway, and you bring your plane to the hotel and then you can play golf, you can go with horses, you can go on the Ottawa River, sailing, boating, skiing, fishing," said Durocher.

Allen said one of his main goals is to get people hooked on the Canadian horse.

"They’re exceptional horses...We’ve sold horses in France, we’ve sold them in the U.S. and all over Quebec and Ontario. We have horses all over the place. We hope to
(spread the word) because the Canadian horse is almost extinct," he said adding, "In 1970, there was only 400 (purebred) horses left, and now thanks to a few crazy people like me, we have about 4,500 to 6,000 registered horses."